Drama once again chases the Pittsburgh Steelers into training camp — and it could benefit the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Steelers and Le’Veon Bell didn’t come to an agreement on an extension by Monday’s deadline, meaning the star running back will once again play under the franchise tag before likely heading to free agency.

The #Steelers and star RB Le’Veon Bell were not able to come to terms on a long-term extension by today’s 4 pm deadline, source said. He’ll play on the $14.5M franchise tag. And likely won’t show up for a while.

This seems like routine housekeeping from a Bengals perspective. The Steelers don’t want to pay Bell despite his 1,291 rushing yards and nine touchdowns a year ago, not to mention the 655 yards and two scores as a receiver. Instead, they want to pay along the line of the position, which Bell’s camp thinks is unfair.

But it’s not so simple from a Bengals perspective considering the following:

Whoa.

"I think it's possible Le'Veon Bell sits out first half of the year if he doesn't get a long term deal done." –@AdamSchefter on @SiriusXMNFL.

"The goal at that point would be to hit 2019 free agency healthy, not rack up another 400 touches."

The Steelers visit Cincinnati in Week 6. A holdout would remove one of Pittsburgh’s best players from the roster and perhaps open up the AFC North.

Bell has plenty of leverage to hold out if he wants to, as some team will still pay him top dollar in free agency regardless. He’d be smart to keep his workload low before heading to the open market too, especially if it happens to skip one of the game’s most violent rivalries at least once.

In short, the Bengals could gain here, if even slightly, thanks to disarray in Pittsburgh.